All men are freemen or slaves.

Explanation

(English-origin maxim.) Every person is either free or enslaved — there is no intermediate status. Cite this to resist the creation of quasi-servitudes through licensing regimes, conditions on travel, or administrative controls on liberty.

Where this applies

• A state requires citizens to obtain a license before exercising their right to travel freely, and a challenger argues the license requirement creates a quasi-servitude inconsistent with the free status of all persons.
• A government conditions access to public benefits on surrendering the right to privacy, and the applicant objects that this forced choice reduces a free person to a condition resembling servitude.
• A worker is told she cannot leave her employer without repaying training costs, and the court examines whether the arrangement effectively makes her an unfree person, since all persons are either free or enslaved with no middle ground.